If you build it, will they come? Discover the steps you can take to increase your chances of being in the top of the search engine results. Learn how to create effective keywords and use them in site content; setup a proper site structure; and the importance of linking. You will analyze web sites to see how they have placed themselves in the top ten of search engine results. You will develop a strategy for improving your web site to work better with the search engines.

This class is for students with web design knowledge who wish to optimize their site for the search engines. This is a required course in the Web Design Certificate program.

Labs make up approximately 30% of the course.

• Participants should be proficient with navigation to files and folders; opening, saving and closing files; and using menus, toolbars and dialog boxes

• Create a list of keywords that are relevant to your site content and audience
• Optimize your pages with well-written content and the effective use of keywords
• Design the information structure of your website to enable efficient search engine indexing
• Develop incoming links to increase site relevance to the search engines
• Assess how well a site is optimized for search engines
• Define and identify black hat techniques that are unacceptable to search engines